Marysville Public Schools: 2023-24 vs 2024-25 Budget & Acutual Breakdown

[Shadowninja]

LADY BUDGETDOWN: MARYSVILLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Sometimes the interesting number isn't what a district spent. It's what the district thought it was going to have left.

Marysville's 2023-24 final budget projected a General Fund balance of about $12.5 million. Actual year-end balance?

About $16.7 million.

That's roughly $4.2 MILLION better than the final budget projection.

Then came 2024-25.

Final budget projection: about a $573,000 deficit.

Actual result: about a $2.014 MILLION surplus.

Another swing of roughly $2.6 MILLION.

Meanwhile, Marysville was negotiating employee compensation during this same general period. The teacher contract ultimately included negotiated wage increases, and the 2026 wage re-opener added additional compensation.

And no, my question isn't whether teachers should have received raises.

My question is much simpler:

When a school district repeatedly finishes millions of dollars better than its own final budget projections, how does that financial picture factor into what employees are told the district can afford during negotiations?

Conservative budgeting is one thing.

Millions of dollars between the final projection and the final result, more than once, is worth opening the ledger.

With receipts and respect. 👑